Jason Aldean Has No Regrets About Releasing 'Try That In A Small Town'
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Jason Aldean Has No Regrets About Releasing 'Try That In A Small Town'

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Jason Aldean had a No. 1 hit in 2023 with "Try That In A Small Town," from his 2023 Highway Desperado album. The song might have been a success, but it also stirred up a lot of controversy, with CMT refusing to play the video,

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Critics claim that the song encourages gun use and violence. In addition, the video takes place in front of the Maury County, Tennessee courthouse. It's the same location where an  18-year-old Black man named Henry Choate was reportedly lynched in 1927.

Aldean didn't write "Try That In A Small Town." Instead, his bandmates Kurt Allison and Tully Kennedy, along with Kelley Lovelace and Neal Thrasher, are the writers behind the song. But Aldean still defends it, and its inclusion on Highway Desperado.

"Wouldn't change a thing," Aldean says on Country Countdown USA, adding that he feels "strongly about" the song. "It was something I wanted to say ... I hated the controversy. But I would do it again in a heartbeat."

What Jason Aldean Says About "Try That In A Small Town"

Amid the controversy, Aldean shares his thoughts about why he recorded the song on social media.

"In the past 24 hours I have been accused of releasing a pro-lynching song (a song that has been out since May) and was subject to the comparison that I (direct quote) was not too pleased with the nationwide BLM protests," Aldean

Aldean also references the tragic Route 91 Harvest Festival shooting in 2017, which took place when he was on stage.

"As so many pointed out, I was present at Route 91-where so many lost their lives ... NO ONE, including me, wants to continue to see senseless headlines or families ripped apart."

"My political views have never been something I've hidden from," he concludes. "And I know that a lot of us in this Country don't agree on how we get back to a sense of normalcy where we go at least a day without a headline that keeps us up at night. But the desire for it to - that's what this song is about."